Today the pineapple is known as a universal symbol of hospitality and welcome. It suggests to all a sign of friendliness, warmth, cheer, and graciousness.

Since the 17th century, the pineapple has been a favorite fruit of the wealthy. Seafaring captains impaled fresh pineapple on their gate posts or theirfront doors to signify the man of the house was home and receiving guests. In colonial America, families would set fresh pineapple on their tables when visitors joined them, and it would be served as a special dessert. This was the utmost symbol of welcome. Often, when visitors stayed the night, they would be given the bedroom with pineapples carved in the bedposts or headboard.

How did the pineapple become the symbol of welcome and hospitality?

Originally unique to the Western Hemisphere, the fruit was a favorite of fierce Indians who lived on islands in the Caribbean Sea, where the pineapple's presence was the result of centuries of Indian migration and commerce.

The first encounter between a European and a pineapple occurred in 1493, when Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage to the Caribbean region, inspected a deserted village. He and his European sailors ate and enjoyed the curious new fruit and brought it back to Europe.

In Renaissance Europe fresh fruits were a rare commodity. The New World's pineapple made the fruit an item of celebrity and curiosity for royal gourmets. It took European gardeners nearly two centuries before they perfected a hothouse pineapple plant.

The pineapple took on symbolic meanings in colonial America. The colonies were then a land of small, primitive towns and settlements where visiting was the primary means of entertainment and news dissemination. The concept of hospitality - warmth, charm and style - was a central element of social life.

Creative food display was the hostess's means of declaring her personality and her family's status and each sought to outdo the other. While fruits were the major attractions, the pineapple was the true celebrity. A hostess's ability to acquire a pineapple for an important dining event said as much about her rank as it did about her resourcefulness. Colonial confectioners sometimes rented pineapples to households by the day. Later, the same fruit was sold to another, more affluent client who actually ate it. As you might imagine, a hostess would have gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that her pineapple was only rented. The pineapple as a symbol of hospitality is one of the last vestiges of an era when all life literally revolved around the dining room table, a less complicated era that left us the enduring icon of the colonial pineapple, symbolizing our founding society's abiding commitment to hospitality.

May your stay at The Pineapple Inn be touched by our abiding commitment to hospitality and the creation of fond memories.